(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispatch operation plan devising system suitable for use to devise an enforcement plan of a dispatch operation to an automatic transaction apparatus such as an automated teller machine (ATM) in a store of a bank or other financial institution, and a computer readable record medium storing a dispatch operation plan devising program.
(2) Description of Related Art
Replenishment of cash in or collection of cash from an automatic cash transaction machine [hereinafter referred as an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) or an automatic machine] installed in an automatic machine corner or an unattended automatic machine corner of a bank is carried out by (a) staffs of a security company according to an instruction from a person in charge of a store or the like of the bank.
Concretely, a person in charge of the store or the like of the bank estimates the number of demanded bills at the ATM using a method disclosed in, for example, patent document 1, examines how much funds need to be replenished in (or collected from) which ATM (distribution/opportunity) on the basis of an estimated number of demanded bills, and makes a document of an funds replenishment instruction.
The person in charge transmits the made funds replenishment instruction document to a cash raising division using a facsimile or the like to request it to raise necessary cash. The person in charge also transmits the made funds replenishment instruction document to the security company using a facsimile or the like to request it to deliver (replenish) cash to the ATM or collect surplus funds from the ATM.
The cash raising division deposits an instructed amount of funds in an account for loading funds at the instructed time according to the cash replenishment instruction document. The security company withdraws the instructed amount of cash from the account for loading at the instructed time according to the cash replenishment instruction document, and delivers (fills) it to the ATM or collect the instructed amount of surplus funds from the ATM.
In the security company, a person in charge manually determines staff arrangement (scheduling) about, for example, who goes to which ATM and carried out the operation in order to deliver the funds to the ATM (from ATM).
[Patent Document]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-27002 (page 11, FIG. 15)
According to the above cash delivery method, a person in charge of the store determines the time to replenish/collect cash in/from the ATM on the basis of his/her experience or perception. There is thus possibility that the operation of the ATM stops due to shortage of the cash, or, conversely, that an interest loss generates because the cash in the ATM becomes surplus funds. Incidentally, it is desirable that such surplus funds are suppressed as much as possible.
There is another possibility that requesting the security company to deliver funds more frequently than needed causes an increase in dispatch cost. Generally, the financial institution makes a contract with the security company that the security company periodically dispatches the staff(s), for example. This periodical dispatch contract is that the security company dispatches the staff(s) a predetermined number of times within a predetermined period of time (for example, one month) at a fixed charge (for example, 20,000 yen). When the financial institution makes the dispatch request more often than the predetermined number of times, the financial institution has to pay a comparatively high charge for an extra dispatch (for example, 6,000 yen for every dispatch). Accordingly, requesting the security company to dispatch more often than the predetermined number of times causes an increase in charge to be paid to the security company, which leads to an increase in operation cost.
The ATM needs to be replenished with consumables (for example, receipt forms, journal forms, transfer tickets, receipt/payment slips, passbooks to be issued, etc.). The security company requested from the financial institution dispatches the staff(s) and the staff(s) replenishes such consumables, as well. Concretely, when the ATM detects “near-end” or “end” of a medium such as the journal forms, for example, the ATM notifies the financial institution of a warning that the consumable (medium) needs to be replenished. In response to the warning, the financial institution requests the security company to dispatch the staff(s).
The ATM is equipped with a preventive maintenance system made by the manufacturer of the ATM to detect in prior a sign of abnormality as to, for example, when a mechanical failure will occur in the ATM. In such the preventive maintenance system, the manufacturer confirms the time to replace a maintenance part, and procures the maintenance part in accord with the time to replace. When the time to replace comes, the manufacturer notifies the security company of it, and an operator of the manufacturer is accompanied by a guard man of the security company to do the maintenance operation in the presence of the guard man.
Heretofore, the maintenance operation requires arrangement of the operation schedule between the security company and the manufacturer, which is troublesome. Particularly, when the maintenance part needs to be replaced in near future, it is necessary to arrange the schedule as soon as possible. If the schedule arrangement is not made in time so that a trouble occurs in the ATM, the ATM becomes unavailable, thus the security company needs to dispatch the staff(s) there in order to repair the trouble.
Even when the security company dispatches the staff(s) to replenish the consumables or to do the maintenance operation, it is included in the number of times to dispatch defined in the above periodical dispatch contract.
Heretofore, the person in charge of the store does not manage estimation, planning or anything of dispatch of the operator in order to replenish and/or replace the consumables and do the maintenance operation. When a warning to replenish or replace the consumables is notified, or when a trouble occurs, or when the manufacturer makes a contact with the person in charge of the store, the person in charge handles it each time an event occurs, so that the person in charge makes the security company a request for dispatch not included in the predetermined number of times in order to replenish/replace the consumables or do the maintenance operation. This frequently leads to a higher-rate extraordinary dispatch charge to be paid. In other words, the financial institution has to pay a charge more than the appropriate dispatch charge to the security company.